Chapter 243
In the northern suburbs of Warsaw, Radzymin, the assembly area of the Soviet 16th Tank Army.
The 16th Tank Army was subordinate to the 2nd Tank Army. In previous battles, this tank army was subordinate to the 2nd Ukrainian Front. It was not until the eve of the Belarusian Campaign that it was redeployed to the Belarusian direction and commanded by the 1st Belarusian Front.
In previous battles, the 2nd Tank Army participated in the Lublin-Brest Campaign and performed very well in the battles to liberate Lublin and Deblin. A month ago, dozens of people from the army were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" at the Moscow Medal Awarding Ceremony.
However, it was during the Battle of Lublin-Brest that the 16th Tank Army belonging to the army group suffered serious damage and was forced to enter a period of rest and recuperation.
In the past month, the tank army has been supplemented with personnel and equipment, which not only restored its combat effectiveness , but also improved it. At present, the tank army has nearly 9,000 personnel, 220 tanks of various types, including 23 heavy tanks, and 167 artillery pieces.
Also during the intermission, the Polish anti-fascist government led by Bulganin repaired the railway from Lublin to Brest, which to a large extent solved the logistical supply problem of the offensive forces.
Now, it is April, and the eastern part of Poland has entered the rainy season. The muddy roads have created many difficulties for the armored forces' offensive. However, a new round of offensive is imminent, and the weather cannot become a constraint on the Soviet offensive.
Walking on the muddy dirt road outside the woods, Yuri climbed up the mound in the southeast corner of Oszno village. Almost at the moment he reached the top, a sharp whistling sound came from the sky. Just one or two breaths later, a shell exploded below the mound less than 200 meters away from him.
These were artillery shells fired from the German Radzymin defense line. They were not purposeful bombardments, but rather intermittent fire tests.
As the shell exploded, just one or two minutes later, two roars were heard from the Soviet artillery position behind the mound. This was the Soviet artillery unit's counterattack.
During the one-month rest period, the Soviets and Germans played this game from time to time on their respective defense lines. You fired a shell at my position, and I retaliated by firing two shells at you. There were constant small-scale conflicts between the two sides, but there was no large-scale attack or assault.
Both sides were busy re-deploying their troops. The Soviet army was replenishing its lost men and weapons, while the German army was drawing troops from all over to reinforce.
Yuri has intelligence from the Germans. In this month, the Germans deployed a large-scale army just in front of Warsaw. Many well-known troops were concentrated here, such as the "Hermann Goering" Division, the "Viking" Division, the "Skull" Division, etc. From the perspective of weapons and equipment, the strength of the German army in the general direction of Warsaw has also been greatly enhanced. Thousands of artillery pieces and more than 600 tanks have brought great pressure to the First Belorussian Front. This is also the main reason why Yuri adjusted the deployment and ordered the Second Belorussian Front to move the offensive direction southward.
In addition, in the offensive direction south of Warsaw and south of Opochno, the First Ukrainian Front under the command of Zhukov had repelled the German Army Group "A" and headed straight for the Vidawka River. The Ninth Guards Army commanded by Chuikov made rapid progress and had threatened the German defense line south of Warsaw.
Because of the rain, even with the help of a telescope, the line of sight cannot be projected too far. The world inside the telescope is white, as if it is foggy.
Passing the telescope to Arseni behind him, Yuri took off the hood of his raincoat, letting the rain hit the top of his military cap, and said without turning his head: "Map!"
Arseni hurriedly put the telescope into its box, took out his bag, and took out the map wrapped in oil paper.
Several guards following behind hurried over, unfolded a rainproof cloth, and held it high to cover Yuri's head.
“Woo…”
Just at this moment, the sound of aircraft engines came from the thick clouds in the western sky. Yuri lowered his head and looked in the direction where the sound came from, and happened to see a formation of four fighter planes flying towards this side.
Among the four fighter planes, one on the left or right side was obviously injured. Thick smoke was coming out of the tail wing and the entire fuselage was shaking noticeably. However, the pilot had no intention of abandoning the plane and escaping. He was still trying hard to control the fighter plane to return - this was a Soviet fighter plane.
Taking his eyes away from the air, Yuri looked at the unfolded map, his thick eyebrows tightly furrowed.
The German defense in Warsaw was becoming more solid step by step, and with the arrival of the rainy season, the Allied forces fighting on the Western Front had been forced into a period of intermission, and large-scale offensives were postponed. The situation on the Italian peninsula was similar. The rebellion against Mussolini was suppressed, and hundreds of thousands of Italian troops who were ready to surrender were forced by the Germans to reorganize their defenses.
Due to these two factors, the German army was able to draw more troops to the Eastern Front, which would inevitably create greater resistance for the Soviet army in subsequent battles.
If conditions permit, Yuri would consider postponing the new battle until after the rainy season, or focusing the main offensive direction on the Baltic Sea. At the same time, he would wait for the offensive on the southern front to advance to the Czechoslovakian border and tie down enough German troops before launching an offensive against Warsaw.
But the problem now is that he doesn't have that much time to wait. Moscow hopes to capture Warsaw as soon as possible and eliminate the political impact of the Warsaw issue.
During these days, Yuri inspected the situation along the Bug River and from Spawa to Sochaczew in order to find the best breakthrough point to avoid the German army's solid defense line in front of Warsaw. Radzymin was the last point he inspected.
According to intelligence, the German 73rd Infantry Division was in front of Radzimin. This infantry division had just been annihilated by the Soviet 4th Ukrainian Front in the previous Crimean Campaign. The current 73rd Infantry Division was just reorganized. The characteristics of this infantry division were that it was understaffed, the soldiers lacked combat experience, and the weapons were not fully equipped. Therefore, using this place as a breakthrough point was the best choice.
But the problem was that on the two wings of the German 73rd Infantry Division were the German 19th Armored Division and the "Viking" Division. Once the Soviet army broke through in this direction, the attacking forces would be easily attacked from the left and right wings.
Yuri concluded that it would be difficult to implement this breakthrough plan relying solely on the strength of the 16th Tank Army. He must require the First Belorussian Front to redeploy its forces in this area and strengthen its forces in this area.
It is possible to consider transferring the 9th Assault Army to this direction, and forming a temporary cavalry and aircraft group with the 2nd Guards Cavalry Army, thereby improving the Soviet army's mobility in this direction.
After staring at the map for a long time, Yuri bit his lip. He saw Chuikov's 9th Guards Army, which had advanced to the Vidavka River line. The attack position had actually entered the war zone of the 1st Belorussian Front. The current situation was that the 33rd Army of the 1st Belorussian Front had fallen to the left rear of the 9th Guards Army.
Yuri tapped his fingers on the map and a smile appeared on his face. He felt that he needed to go to Moscow in the near future. Considering the importance and complexity of the Battle of Warsaw, and the advantageous position of the 9th Guards Army, why couldn't he ask the headquarters to make new deployments and incorporate the 9th Guards Army into the 1st Belorussian Front?
Well, that’s a good idea!
The more Yuri thought about it, the more he felt that this was a good idea. Although this might cause dissatisfaction from Comrade Zhukov, but... he had already been dissatisfied a lot, so how could this not be the first time?
If we were to go to Moscow to finalize this matter, we had to hurry up. Comrade Khrushchev was in Moscow at the time. There was news that he had just had a quarrel with Comrade Zhukov, and it was very unpleasant. Zhukov called Comrade Stalin and proposed to replace the military commissar of the First Ukrainian Front, kicking Khrushchev out and letting him be directly responsible for the overall work in Ukraine. As for the new military commissar, Zhukov recommended Kreniukov.
Yuri didn't know whether Zhukov's proposal could be passed by Stalin, but he thought it was very likely. After all, the main battlefield of the First Ukrainian Front had shifted to Romania. As the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Party, it was no longer appropriate for Khrushchev to continue to serve as the military commissioner of the front.
If you count it this way, Comrade Khrushchev was kicked out by Zhukov. Even though he might be tired of this part-time job and wanted to go back to Kiev, given his gloomy personality, he must be resentful. So, before leaving, he would probably be happy to do me such a favor.
With a knowing smile, Yuri made up his mind. He turned sideways and glanced at the back of the entourage, where a soldier with a camera in his arms was staring at the jungle below the slope in a daze.
Yuri frowned unconsciously. He not only missed Filia, but also her youthful and energetic body. He also missed her work attitude of always taking pictures.
Look at the scene in front of you, the gray sky, the drizzle, the hills, the smoke, and the senior commanders braving the rain and danger to go to the front line. What a good publicity material! But you didn't even seize the opportunity to take a photo.
